Harbor seals making a home in the bay

Two years ago, students at Saint Mary Star of the Sea along Mill Creek in Hampton headed outside to take nature pictures for their marine science program.

They got a rare and pleasant surprise.

"They said, 'What's that along the shoreline?'" Principal Mary Amata recalled recently. "We saw that it was a seal."

The harbor seal had hopped out of the little inlet and onto an old boat ramp and looked to be sunbathing, she said. They summoned other students and teachers at the private Catholic school to take a look, but kept a respectful distance.

"They were just very excited," the principal said. "I think it's the first time they've ever seen a seal in person. We haven't seen one since."

They might still get another chance, according to marine mammal experts.

"This is actually a fairly new thing in this area," said Christina Trapani at the Virginia Aquarium in Virginia Beach. "I'd say within the last 12 to 15 years, we've started to see an increase in seals in the Chesapeake Bay and in Virginia."

While sightings are still rare and random, she said, seals tend to hang out on the rock jetties of the four manmade islands along the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, but are known to venture inland.

"We've had reports all the way up the bay," said Trapani, a specialist with the aquarium's Stranding Response Team.

Recent local sightings phoned in to the team and posted on Facebook include seals frolicking the bay near the bridge tunnel early this month by the Virginia Beach Resort Hotel and Conference Center ("Seals. Come and check them out") and a lone seal basking on the docks by Big Sam's Inlet Café & Raw Bar off Rudee Inlet in Virginia Beach ("Sammy the seal is back").

Keep your distance

Seals are pinnipeds, a Latin reference to "feather or fin foot," for their fin-like flippers. There are many species, and harp seals, gray seals and even hooded seals have been spotted locally.

But the one most likely to be seen in Hampton Roads is the harbor seal.

Harbor seals grow to about 6 feet and 245 pounds, with a blue-gray back and light and dark speckling. They have dog-like snouts, lack external ear flaps and tend to "haul out" on dry land in a banana-like fashion, according to the Office of Protected Resources of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA.

Those native to the Atlantic are generally smaller than those in Alaska and the Pacific Ocean, and range from the Canadian Arctic to southern New England, but sometimes end up as far south as the Carolinas.

According to the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, seals and other marine mammals are most common in the coastal ocean and entrance of the bay, typically between October and April, but do sometimes venture inside the estuary and the mouths of its tributaries.

Seals feed in the water, but haul out for various reasons — to give birth, nurse or escape predators, for instance. But most likely it's to rest, especially after a big meal.

"We have some pretty good fish stock in the Chesapeake Bay," Trapani said, "which apparently they like."

Seal spottings should be reported immediately to the stranding team, Trapani said. Most seals are healthy, but experts can determine if the seal is in distress and needs assistance. The aquarium is the only entity in Virginia with a federal permit to do so.

All pinnipeds — which also include sea lions and walruses — are protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972, according to NOAA.

This makes it a federal crime to "harass" or even approach a seal on shore, even with the best of intentions, said Trapani.

"The most important thing, if they see a seal, is to keep their distance," she said. "It's a wild animal, just like any wild animal. They just have those big, cute eyes — it's deceptive; they can probably move faster than you think.

"They're not at all going to chase you or anything, but if you get too close, they can bite. We certainly don't want that. Dogs, too — we've had dogs loose on the beach attack seals. We don't want that."

If a seal is obviously injured, said Trapani, "we will keep it under observation for a day or two. We've had shark bites before, or (if it's) obviously experiencing a pneumonia situation or obviously skinny, we'll bring it back to the facility for rehabilitation. But we prefer to give the animal the benefit of the doubt, and keep it under observation for a while."

Rehab is a last resort.

"It's very stressful for a seal to be brought in for rehabilitation, just like any animal," Trapani said. "So we want to make sure an animal needs it. Especially with juveniles. They're like kids — they might get themselves into trouble and get bumps and bruises, and it's not something that won't heal better out in the wild."

In 2008, the aquarium rescued a sickly seal stranded in the Croatan section of Virginia Beach, nursed it back to health and released it a few weeks later.